the essential
The European Space Agency (ESA) has an ambitious project: creating solar farms in space. The agency has just demonstrated the feasibility of such a device.
We are familiar with agro-photovoltaics, these fields of solar panels that we sometimes come across in Occitania, Spain or Portugal. Soon there could be giant solar farms…in space. This is the ambitious European Solaris project that one would think comes straight out of a science fiction film.
And yet, this project, launched in 2022 by the European Space Agency (ESA) and its partners in the Talda consortium, follows its path around one objective: to provide clean energy from the unlimited resource that constitutes solar radiation, available with the same intensity 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year round, and contribute to achieving the carbon neutrality desired by the European Union in 2050.
“The idea is to collect solar energy in space, where it is constantly available and is not affected by cloud cover or other atmospheric conditions. It is then transmitted to strategically placed receivers connected to the energy network” on Earth, explains the ESA. In 2023, a study led by Thales Alania Space Italy, with input from renewable energy company ENEL, began developing a first definition of a space-based solar power system that would use radio waves to provide reliable supply in energy.
Constellation of 4,000 mirrors 1 kilometer in diameter
The consulting firm Arthur D. Little in collaboration with the energy supplier Engie has studied another concept that could serve as a precursor to radio frequency solar satellites: space reflectors. Last month, ESA confirmed the feasibility of the project which would consist of deploying in space a constellation of 4,000 mirrors, each 1 kilometer in diameter, in a low Earth orbit (890 km). These mirrors will reflect sunlight, precisely redirecting it towards photovoltaic installations on Earth. This technique would make it possible to increase the electricity production of 30 large solar parks scattered around the world by 40 to 60%.
“We plan to launch a first mirror of approximately 200 m in diameter by the end of 2025, in order to test sending and deployment. Then, by the end of 2026, the sending of 5 reflectors of the target size in order to evaluate the navigability of a fleet of mirrors. Finally, by 2030, we will make a first delivery of solar reflection demonstrators for a first terrestrial use,” explains Arnaud Siraudin, associate director at Arthur D. Little, to Le Monde.
